Suicide in My Tank!

[Becki67]

Hello All,

This is kind of strange....we've had a Yellow Eye Tang for about a month now. It was doing great until yesterday...I noticed that it had these white splotches on it. I took some pics and immediately ran to the fish store. They said that it looked like some kind of fungus. She suggested I put the Ich medicine in. She also told me that the fungus could go away on it's own, but it makes fish susceptible to Ich, hence the Ich medicine.

Well, I put the medicine in the sump and turned the lights out and went to bed. This morning the yellow eye was lying on my living room floor dead.

Was he so miserable that he wanted to end his life?

Weird, huh?

 

[messiah023]

You should be careful with the ich medicine in your MAIN tank!!!
There are only a handful of meds that are somewhat OK for a reef tank. Ich meds can harm the corals & inverts unless it specifically says "reef safe".
Even the reef safe ones need to be monitored in the DT because the are usually vinegar based and will lower your PH (especially in a new tank). Check your PH and buffer if needed.

Sorry about the tang......could be just one of those things, not related to the fungus at all.

 

[Becki67]

I made sure that I got a safe med. It doesn't hurt the corals (which I don't have) or the invertibrates. I don't want to hurt my Shrek (Sea Hare). He's lasted the longest so far without decapitating himself or cooking himself on the heater. I'm really careful with him.

 

[Bifferwine]

Usually when non-jumpers (like tangs) jump, they were frightened by something. Maybe he was more on edge because he was stressed by the illness. Sorry for your loss.

 

[yote]

Hate to hear about your tang.
And dont know that I would trust ANY kind of medication in my tank,even if it was only live rock.Any thing that will kill ick will kill the small inverts like pods.

 

[Becki67]

For future reference, how should I set up a sick tank? How big, what do I need in it, etc.

 

[Piggy]

All you need to do for a hospital tank is fill a small aquarium with tank water,add a heater.hob filter, and small powerhead. Also something for them to hide in like pvc. Mine is a 10 gallon.

 

[Becki67]

Great, Thanks.

 

[dustin_P74]

piggy nailed it

 

[RyanG]

Yep you dont need to keep it set up all of the time either. Just need a heater and an airpump maybe a small hang on back filter if you want to get fancy.

 

[cthegame]

..and make sure you keep a close eye on the levels and do more frequent water changes since you have no real filtration.